Saturday, April 30, 2005 at Saturday, April 30, 2005 Posted by KillerFry
Labels: Random thoughts, Spanish 3 comments
Tuesday, April 26, 2005 at Tuesday, April 26, 2005 Posted by KillerFry
at Tuesday, April 26, 2005 Posted by KillerFry
Thursday, April 21, 2005 at Thursday, April 21, 2005 Posted by KillerFry
Labels: Anger management 0 comments
at Thursday, April 21, 2005 Posted by KillerFry
Labels: Anger management, Random thoughts, Spanish 1 comments
at Thursday, April 21, 2005 Posted by KillerFry
Vengo llegando de ir con el verdugo... ¡digo! El dentista. Pero eso no es lo importante; el punto es que me dí cuenta de cómo el mexicano común, silvestre y corriente tiene muchos conocimientos innatos del marketing; y no sólo eso, que probablemente los aplican mucho mejor que grandes corporativos.
Labels: Random thoughts, Serious Schitt, Spanish 2 comments
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 at Wednesday, April 20, 2005 Posted by KillerFry
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 at Tuesday, April 19, 2005 Posted by KillerFry
Monday, April 18, 2005 at Monday, April 18, 2005 Posted by KillerFry
Thursday, April 14, 2005 at Thursday, April 14, 2005 Posted by KillerFry
Monday, April 11, 2005 at Monday, April 11, 2005 Posted by KillerFry
at Monday, April 11, 2005 Posted by KillerFry
Wednesday, April 06, 2005 at Wednesday, April 06, 2005 Posted by KillerFry
Monday, April 04, 2005 at Monday, April 04, 2005 Posted by KillerFry
at Monday, April 04, 2005 Posted by KillerFry
Saturday, April 02, 2005 at Saturday, April 02, 2005 Posted by KillerFry
So, yeah. The contest came and went. How did it go?
Well, it was horrible. Part of my staff did not show up, which complicated both getting all utilities to the theater as well as moving them into the stage; not to mention time that could have been used to rehearse or prepare.
At first I was worried because my staff was not complete, but then my turn came and we had to make do. We went up the stage and had 1 minute to set the stage. It was not a minute really, more like the time the presenter took to read the curriculum of one of the jury members. Unfortunately for me the curriculum of the juror that came in my place was... well... small and simple compared to others who took about 3/4 minutes to read hence giving the production more time to set things up.
But hey, all utilities are in their place, ready to be taken on stage, right? Wrong. Moving the bed to the stage was problematic, since the only staff I had were women (the male part of my staff was the missing part). But it finally got there. I went to take my place and lo and behold! The table we were going to use was not there! So the girl in charge of placing the stuff on stage comes to me and says: "There's no table!"
I think to myself: I only need the teddy bear (Timmy) to be in his position, to hell with the table. I can make do without table or bed or nothing, I only need the bear to be in his place. So I tell her that: "Is Timmy on his place?" And she answers: "No, there's no table." I stop to think... Timmy was not supposed to be on the table... so I reply: "Don't worry about the table. Is Timmy in the front of the stage where marked?" And she almost yells at me: "I told you there's no table!" I almost explode, but calm my senses: "Okay... see, just put Timmy in his place *right here she begins to say something, but I interrupt her* SHHH! Just put Timmy in the front of the stage where the taped X is!" And she does just that.
So, although it seemed an eternity, it really did not take a minute. I guess it was more like 40 seconds. But the presenter had already finished with the curriculum of the juror... so the silence was deafening. I hurry up stage to begin my monologue, and boom! The ilumination came on late. Hey, I can't blame the God of Lighting because I had already taken so much time, I bet I came out unexpectedly to the stage.
I begin my monologue, with my mind somewhere else. Everything that was supposed to be at the table is in the bed... I didn't have time to concentrate... the audience was somewhat reluctant... I just wasn't there. Cold. Dead. Just saying my lines. Not sure about what I was doing. Just horrible.
Of course, little by little I begin to warm up, and somewhere along the middle of the mologue I'm on full throttle. But maybe too little too late. The monologue ends, there's an explosion of applause but I don't listen; all my head is telling me is: "Everything went to hell and back... crap..."
Half-staff and me take all utility off the stage. Defeated I stood in shock for a minute and head back to my seat. I swear to The Powers That Be that I felt so low, I wanted to cry right there at that moment. Just hours ago... nay... minutes ago I was so sure I would win. And now I was so sure it had all gone to poop. And with each of the contending monologues obtaining more applause, more screams, more laughs and more cheers; a sour tear did roll out of my right eye. Long story short, I did not win... ... first place...
... instead I got second place.
Oh yeah man, I did scream out in joy when the results came. I was not expecting anything, I was expecting defeat and the great void of things that coulda-woulda-shoulda been but were not. My trembling and excited hands took the price, and a smile crossed my face from side to side. I took a prize home.
Moments later I was mad, because I knew that I coulda-woulda-shoulda gotten first place if all the mistakes had not happened, if I had enter the stage more prepared, more rehearsed, more in tune. Red with anger because I had so eloquently said before: "Second place is the first loser" only put the hangman's noose around my own neck. Nothing makes me feel more of a loser than knowing I was there, knowing I'm a close second, knowing people will remember me as "good but not good enough."
But then, I realized something. Everything had come out wrong. The utility, my acting, timing... everything had been wrong! And yet, I took second place. What can this mean? It means that when tides are moving against me, I still have it in me to go back and fight. I means others should thank me for making mistakes. It means that I'm the best of the losers.
But most importantly: it means I'm so good that even when I'm bad, I'm still good.
Just as an extra after-thought: You are only as good as those around you. Thanks to you all who helped me: The Whip Wearing Director for pushing me, The God of Lighting up above, The Go Lucky Girl putting Timmy in his place and The Creepy Nurse doing only God-knows-what that the audience loved. And thanks to all of you who supported me! :D
Thursday, March 31, 2005 at Thursday, March 31, 2005 Posted by KillerFry
I would like to inform my Ol' Three Faithful Readers that yesterday, March 30th 2005, was a glorious day. On a day like that at aproximately 16:30 I came into this world. A blessing to some, a curse to others. But mostly a blessing.
It was a very good day. A day of small, subtle, yet great details. Ironically, the first Happy Birthday e-mail or notice I got came from Overclock.net. I found it nice that, though it was most probably nothing more than a stored procedure in a MySQL database, they took the time to add it and congratulate forum members. Thanks guys!
I woke up, the smell of the bottled up oxygen in my lungs. It was at that moment I realized my roomie and I had to open the window for a while, or else we would die in our own carbon monoxide. Non-galantly I showered, dressed up and went to my first class, Compilers, only to find out my teacher (who happens to be my career director) also celebrates her birthday on 03/30. Funny, hehehe.
Then came another pleasant, great detail on my B-Day: The visit to the dentist. Hahahaha, only I make an appoiment with the dentist on that very day to have my braces set. Oooooh yeah. I love the pain. Somehow I enjoy my visits to the dentist, but that is a story for another day my good Ol' Three Faithful Readers, a story I will title: "The New Pleasure."
The God of Lighting phoned me up after that. I was driving while he sang "Happy Birthday to you," so there was a complete mix of feeling in me between: happyness and road-rage anger against the old lady pulling her screwed up oldsmobile against my lane. But I survived the look-ma-no-hands stunt. It was something to remember! Hehehe.
And then, the moment I am sure my Ol' Three Faithful Readers are waiting for: the monologue constest results... I got back to My Four Walls... drops of anxious sweat running down my forehead... I'd left Jessy on and in my Gmail account... I turn on the monitor. There it is, three new e-mails in my Inbox: One from a friend, another from my parents, and lastly one with the monologue elimination results. Coldly, I stood in my place, staring at the screen with a blank mind. I read the other two e-mails first as if trying to easy my mind: obviously congratulations from a friend and my parents. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath that filled my lungs with oxygen and clicked the Inbox button... and finally... the dreaded yet expect e-mail.
Okay, where are the results? I see no list. I almost explode in a fit of rage as I discover there's an attached Word document. Click, downloading. Those five seconds it took 408KB to download seemed an eternity to me. I swear I could see each and every bit going down the ethernet cable, mocking me as they walk as slow as they can, ooops! An ACK lost, must do a callback, friggin' sliding window. Here comes the new packet, all covered up with present paper and a bow. I bite my tongue and try to think of... of my stomach that's convulsing inside of me, almost coming out through my belly button.
Finally, the document downloads. And there it lays, sitting in my desktop. A smile of... of what? Joy? Horror? Nervousness? Love? Fear? Maybe all of them mixed up together, compressed, waiting to come out with a bang. *BANG* So I close my eyes and double click the document... hum... no hard drive noise... no movement... crap, I missed the icon when I closed my eyes. I carefully position the pointer right in the middle of it... and... close my eyes again... click... click... I open my eyes and there it is in my BenQ FP767v2 17" Monitor with its stunning fast 16ms response time, the judge's veredict: the finalists.
I'm in it.
And right about that moment I realize that I have not been breathing. My brain yells at me "Give me some oxygen or you'll pass out, bump your head, have a concussion and when you wake up amnesia will have puts its sweet arms around you." So what do I do? I yell out in happyness: "Hell poopie yeah!"
And then breathe.
Further up in the day, I slept in my theater class. Got more congratulations and the such. Until late at night we go to dinner at Bennigan's. Ooooo... a sweet carbohydrate, fat charged but tasty Monte Cristo awaits for me (and still waits, as 1/4 of it still resides in my fridge). Few things in the world make me remember there is a God and that sometimes he smiles and gives us mere mortals much joys in the world such as the Monte Cristo.
Next day I woke up with diarrhea... bet you did not want to know that. I do not blame it on the Monte Cristo though, but on the squishy sandwich I ate before that at the school cafeteria. And even if it had been the Monte Cristo, then those thirty or so minutes lost in the bathroom are more than a fair price for such pleasure the Monte Cristo gives my frail and mortal body.
Tomorrow, Friday April 1st, is the Monologue Contest Finals. Many people ask me if I'm going to participate in it. I so eloquently answer: "No, I'm not going to participate in it. I'm going to win it."
And by the jolly good bollocks of Mr. Monkey Pants in the back a van down by the river, I will!
Tuesday, March 29, 2005 at Tuesday, March 29, 2005 Posted by KillerFry
Okay... the Monologue Contest eliminations start in one hour 15 minutes. Even so, my turn is not up until 3 hours and 25 minutes.
Something big happens... something that had never happened before... I'm nervous.
Never, ever in my whole time as an actor, in all 11 plays I have been in have I ever felt nervousness like this. Only a small tingle in my stomach just as I walk to the stage... but never before. Not once had I felt my stomach crunch up and wiggle...
Well, I'm off. I'm going to relax my mind. Later I will tell you how it all went.
Monday, March 28, 2005 at Monday, March 28, 2005 Posted by KillerFry
I must apologize to my Ol' Three Faithful Readers, but it seems I took some very long vacations. Actually, if I must be 100% honest, I got somewhat lazy. There's a point somewhere around 11pm in which my brain goes to complete shut-down mode.
Anyway, many things have happened. From one day The Powers That Be loving me too much and having classes canceled, to me yelling at some dude in a take-out restaurant because here in Mexico customer service is non-existant. Then what we know as Holy Week in Mexico, known in the US as Spring Break. The only difference is that Holy Week/Spring Break is always at the same time as Easter, whereas in the US Spring Brake varies over time.
So I went back home, considering home as the place where I grew up, my house, where my family waits for me and 6 Chihuahua dogs wait anxiously for me. We must remember they say "Home is where the heart is"... I don't know where my heart is right now.
The point is this I spent this whole week doing nothing. Though I took Daisy (my laptop. Yes, I put names to my things. Some say this might be a psychological problem regarding my feeling of posession over things... dunno); I took Daisy back home because I wanted to work on some school proyects. Ask me if I turned my computer on. C'mon, do it. Humor me, please... well, yeah, I did turn it on because I actually format it and had to listen to my music at some point, but I did nothing regarding school. I just relaxed. Took some time off, shut down body and mind. Rest.
Well, it did not work.
Some would argue that I should feel refreshed, with energy. Or at least happy of going back home and seeing familiar ground. Funny thing is, it is not familiar ground anymore. I remember when some friends left the city to study somewhere else back in the days; and later they spoke of how much they hated coming back home because they felt like visitors, intruders rather than... well... home. This had never happened to me; my family is kind enough to leave my room exactly as I leave it, not one speck of dust is moved.
But it is the other things. After two years out of my home town... or... home city, I come back and I don't recognize my friends. I sit there with them, and hear them talking about people I don't know, about event's that apparently are very funny to remember but I just stare blankly past them because, suprise, I was not there when it happened. Others still have all the comforts of living-at-home luxuries that I do not get anymore. In summary: their lives took twists and turns in which I was not part of. It leaves me feeling like a stranger. And before I get there, they tell me how much they miss me, how much they wish I had never left, how much they want to see me. Suddenly I arrive, and people do not call. People do not visit. If I do not explicitly call them up, they would barely know I was there. I think the only being that did truly miss me, that awaits my return each and every time I leave my house is The Queen. Who is the Queen? She's the elder of my Chihuahuas. As soon as the door opened she rushed inside and greeted me, barely parting from my arms all week long.
Of all the 9 days I spent back home only one did I truly, wholeheartly enjoy. Last Friday, Good Friday. Now, please do not ask me the logic behind spending Good Friday watching B-Horror Movies, but we did just that. Yet that is besides the point. The point is that on that dayI felt truly missed, really had contact with another human being. Someone made my whole day... no... she did my whole week... no... hell, maybe she did my whole semester in as few moments as it takes to do one single, gentle gesture . As we sat seeing movies, I began to toy with her hair, and she me back. We held.
Dissi, truly from the depts of my heart: Thank you.
After that I wanted to come back to my Four Wall and a Ceiling. Back to study, back to the monotony of school, back to my proyects, my obnoxious rommy. And here I am, proyects awaiting, tomorrow the semifinals of a monologue contest, a play two weeks from now and other two plays 5 feeks ahead. Parcial exams in about two weeks...
I need vacations.
Tuesday, March 08, 2005 at Tuesday, March 08, 2005 Posted by KillerFry
Welcome back Ol' Three Faithful Readers. I have something amazing, extraordinaire and rare to tell you; a story which I will call "Thirteen Hours." This story will be posted in the last paragraph of this post because first I have other stuff to nag about.
On sunday, the God of Lighting and me discovered that my car had a flat tire. Actually, it was the pizza delivery guy who found out but was kind enough to let me know. Let me tell you, it was flat, all the way down. Promply, God of Lighting and me took the car to the nearest gas station and pumped some air into the tire. Man, it has the mother of all holes somewhere because at a full 50cm. away from it you can hear the *swoooooosh* of air hissing its way out of the tire. After that we still went to the dinner with the play's people and all. Yesterday I phoned my dad to let him know of the problem, and of the solution: Change all tires! Hahahaha. Aaaaa, the amazing wonders of the american way of life: "Everything's disposable." So I'm going today to get some new tires for the good ol' Buddymobile.
I must admit that although I was born in México, living in the border and with my californian father, my mindset has always been of an American. I cannot help it but see the world through the eyes of the american way of life. But fellow mexican friends do not dispair, I also believe that in rare, isolated moments the mexican spirit in me shows its head; which allows me to amalgam what I think are the best elements of both worlds creating a richer sense of self... uh... or maybe I'm mostly American and this is me trying to convince you not to hate me, hahaha!
As you can be guessing, I will from now on reffer to some recurring charactes in my posts by the nicknames I've assigned them. Little by little I will introduce them; for today, meet the God of Lighting, The Powers That Be and My Four Walls.